Lionel Messi, Ballon d’Or and with Cristiano Ronaldo, fashion icon

Lionel Messi has just been crowned winner of the Ballon d’Or for the fourth time in his still early career, surpassing Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten and Johan Cruyff and giving those who include him among the legends – Pele or Maradona – yet one more argument.

Still, from the point of view of their attractiveness for highly lucrative image contracts, able even to rival their gains of millions from their respective clubs, today’s athletes and footballers are much luckier than their illustrious predecessors.

His main rival and the hugely popular Cristiano Ronaldo accumulated, in the same top, USD 22 million from sponsorships, his salary at Real Madrid rounding up at USD 20.5 million. A statement of his fashion iconimage is the Portuguese’s collaboration with Emporio Armani.